When I’m out riding my bike in Trumansburg, there is this one hill I come across occasionally, that unless I brake most of the way down, things feel a bit out of control. Thoughts like, “If I hit a pot hole, I wonder how much skin I would lose when I hit the ground,” go through my head. This time of year often has that feel. As I’ve gotten older I’ve gotten a bit smarter & realized that just because there is a lot going on, doesn’t mean I have to do it all. Applying the brakes a bit has been a big help.

However, even with the brakes on a bit, things seem to be moving rather quickly. I’d spent enough time preparing to tell the church in August that we’d be here for another 10 months, that it really caught me by surprise when I realized this week that 10 months had become 8.5.

Earlier this week, I went with a friend (Jeff Printy from the Irondequoit Vineyard) out to Norwood, OH to take part in the first module of a nine month training in spiritual direction. (The program is through Sustainable Faith if you’d like more info). As Elizabeth and I have been praying about what things will look like as we head to Dublin next year, one of the things that came up was that I needed to have a better understanding of spiritual direction. While there are a couple of place a bit closer that Norwood, I met Dave Nixon two years ago, and was excited about the opportunity to study with him.  And even though there is already a lot going on these next 10…i mean 8.5 months, this is something I’m really enjoying.

The picture above…
If  you were to walk into the vineyard building today, it is a bit…well…messy.  But it’s a good kind of messy. We are hosting our second Free Sale tomorrow morning starting @ 9 am.  We do this event for a couple reasons.  First is to bless people in our community by giving them opportunity to some pretty cool stuff for free. We partner with several local organizations and ask them to send their clients our way.  We also have some international students heading over. The second part of this is to discourage hoarding & encourage generosity. We all have stuff stuck in our closets that we think “maybe someday I’ll have a use for this.” By giving this stuff a way, we are not only able to bless people who can use it now…but we also affirm our trust is in God…not in the stuff I’ve set aside for a rainy day. I hope you’ll join us on Saturday.

On a sad note…
One nice thing about having a lot going on is that I haven’t had time to watch a Red Sox game in a while…word is things are looking a bit dicey in Fenway.  Looks like I might end up with a relatively stress free October.

Book Recommendation…
While I was out in Chicago a couple of weeks ago…actually Aurora…Liz & I were able to have lunch with one of the people we have both really admired for years…Steve Nicholson.  Steve is the pastor of the Evanston Vineyard, and the former national director of church planting in the Vineyard. He sat down and talked with us about Ireland, and also made a book recommendation…Speaking of Jesus, by Carl Medearis. Hannah read it twice before I got to it once…It is a quick read, but presents an amazing model of evangelism. (and it presents a centered set model, so that is another thing in it’s favor.)

Well, everyone is out for the night except me & Brenna…think we are going to watch Thor. Have a great weekend.